Bob McDonnell, ex-Virginia governor, learns feds will drop charges

Updated on: September 8, 2016 / 4:41 PM
/ AP

RICHMOND, Va. -- Federal prosecutors dropped their
corruption case against former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife on
Thursday, more than two months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned his
conviction.

McDonnell found guilty in corruption trial

Prosecutors indicated in court filings they do not want to
pursue a second trial against the couple.

“After carefully considering the Supreme Court’s
recent decision and the principles of federal prosecution, we have made the
decision not to pursue the case further,” U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente’s
office said in a statement.

The decision ends a years-long legal saga for the former
governor and once-rising Republican star, who was convicted in 2014 of
violating federal bribery law by accepting luxury gifts and loans from a
wealthy businessman in exchange for promoting his dietary supplement.

“We have said from the very first day that Bob
McDonnell is an innocent man. After a long ordeal traversing the entire legal
system, that truth has finally prevailed,” McDonnell’s lawyers, Noel
Francisco and Hank Asbill, said in a statement.

McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, were convicted of doing
illegal favors for wealthy vitamin executive Jonnie Williams in exchange for
more than $165,000 in gifts and loans.

But the high court unanimously held in June that
McDonnell’s actions were distasteful but didn’t necessarily violate federal
bribery laws.

Williams, who was seeking state university research on his
company’s signature anti-inflammatory product, loaned the couple tens of
thousands of dollars to help them pay debts and keep their money-losing
Virginia Beach vacation rental properties afloat. Williams bought nearly
$20,000 in designer clothing and accessories for Maureen McDonnell and a Rolex
watch for Bob McDonnell. He also paid for trips and golf outings for the couple
and their children, and gave $15,000 for catering at the wedding of the McDonnells’
daughter.

At issue in McDonnell’s case was a federal bribery law
that makes it illegal for a public official to agree to take “official
action” in exchange for money, gifts and other things of value.

In vacating McDonnell’s conviction, the Supreme Court
ruled that setting up a meeting or organizing an event - without doing more -
isn’t considered an “official act.”

While McDonnell’s actions may have been “distasteful,”
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the high court’s concern “is not
with tawdry tales of Ferraris, Rolexes and ball gowns,” but with “the
broader legal implications of the government’s boundless interpretation of the
federal bribery statute.”

Several state lawmakers and members of Virginia’s
congressional delegation had urged Attorney General Loretta Lynch not to retry
McDonnell, arguing that he and his family have suffered enough. Democratic Gov.
Terry McAuliffe has also questioned the need for another case.

“It is time to move on,” McAuliffe said after
the Supreme Court decision. “This man has paid the price.”

Prosecutors also decided to drop charges against Maureen
McDonnell, who was sentenced to one year in prison. A federal appeals court put
her case on hold until the Supreme Court examined her husband’s case.

Legal experts said the decision not to pursue a second
trial was not a surprise given the high court’s ruling.

Barak Cohen, a former Justice Department public corruption
prosecutor, said the decision was “exactly what I think anybody would have
expected given an understanding of the evidence at trial and the Supreme
Court’s ruling.”

He said prosecutors were “incredibly aggressive”
in bringing a case given the apparent absence of overt official acts taken by
McDonnell on Williams’ behalf.

“The prosecutors in that case are smart and
aggressive and if they could have brought a case based on more conventional
evidence of bribery - the kind of case they usually bring - they would have
brought it,” said Cohen, now an attorney in private practice.

Liberal watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and
Ethics in Washington denounced Thursday’s decision, saying it sent a
“clear signal” that public officials will not be held accountable
when they abuse their office.

But others disputed that idea, saying the dismissal of
McDonnell’s case won’t give public officials a license to take bribes. Chuck
James, a former prosecutor now in private practice, noted that the McDonnell
ruling hasn’t led to the dismissal of corruption charges of other politicians,
like former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

“True quid pro quo has always been and will remain a
prosecutable case,” James said.